July 15 Is Holiday for Manu’a Cession Day

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ASG employees get to have another four day weekend next week courtesy of Manu’a Cession Day July 16.

Because the date falls on Saturday, the day before, Friday, July 15 is declared a public holiday to mark Manu’a Cession Day.

This is in accordance with local statute that if a holiday falls on Saturday then the preceding Friday is declared a public holiday.

If it falls on a Sunday, the following day is declared a holiday.

Manu’a Cession Day commemorates the first raising of the US flag at Faleula, on Tau Island in Manu’a to mark the agreement of cession between King Tuimanu’a Elisara and the United States on July 14, 1904.

This was four years after the chiefs of Tutuila and Aunuu had ceded their islands to the US, and the US flag was first hoisted on Sogelau Hill in Fagatogo.

Governor Lolo Moliga says in a proclamation that the theme for the 2016 Manu’a Cession Day is “Our people, Our culture and Our future,” and will be marked with appropriate ceremonies.

He calls on the government and people of American Samoa, to “unite together as one, as we are people with shared traditions and values, as we face a future together with peace and harmony in our hearts, our minds and our spirits.”

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